There is more to horror films than fake blood, cheap jump scares, and haunted houses. Sometimes, a filmmaker figures out how to present true dread and unease. In It Follows, it is as simple as someone walking toward you, forever, until you pass it on. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell wrote the script in just one week inspired by a childhood nightmare. Only an idea as personal as a childhood nightmare can be written at such a brisk pace. Not only did Mitchell get the story right, he got the camera right, and the music right. Put it all together, It Follows is one of the best horror films in last few years and is destined to achieve cult classic status. Ok then, what is the ‘It’ in It Follows? In the opening shot, a very long take with the camera sitting in the middle of a sleepy, residential street, we watch a girl around 18 or 19 run out of her house in her underwear, head down the street, suddenly double back, duck and weave, and then sprint for her car to get the hell out of there. The camera never cuts. It rotates a full 360 degrees, it zooms, it pulls back, and the audience watches an exceptionally choreographed sequence set up by Mitchell and cinematographer Michael Gioulakis (2012’s John Dies at the End). We never saw what the girl was running from.

Only the marked person, the person with the curse, can see ‘It’. If you have the curse, which you acquire if you have sex with the current cursed person, a person will follow you. The person can look like anyone, perhaps someone you know, maybe an old lady, maybe a young boy. They can be clothed or naked. All they do is walk toward you. You can run, drive, and even fly away. It doesn’t matter; the person will still walk toward you and catch up to you one day. If it catches you, there is a gruesome death involved and then it will follow the person who had the curse before you.

These are not complicated rules, but they hold steady. Our protagonist is Jay (Maika Monroe (2013’s Labor Day). Jay goes on a few dates with Hugh (Jake Weary), sleeps with him in the back of his car, and now she is cursed. Hugh thought this through. He wants Jay to understand what the curse is about, that it is real, and that she must pass it on, both to keep herself alive and to keep him alive. Now, we can finally see the walker/stalker. When we’re in Jay’s subjective space, we see ‘It’ walk slow but steady toward her during class, in her home, and on the beach before she runs away. When we’re with her friends or in the objective crowd, we see nothing, just a petrified girl appearing to have lost her mind.

When we cannot see ‘It’, for example in the beginning or when we’re objectively watching Jay, it forces us to look all over the screen. We look at the edges, in the distance, and even up top. Mitchell rarely uses jump scares, the lazy horror director’s hip pocket scare technique. Mitchell makes us work to locate the threat. We know it’s out there but the filmmakers will not spoon-feed us. We also have no idea what time period It Follows is set in further disorienting the audience.

The cars are behemoth late ’70s / early ‘80s models. The TVs have rabbit ears. Most people wear jean shorts and jean jackets. Yet, one of Jay’s bookworm friends always has a Kindle-like device in her hands. It Follows takes place out of time. The quiet, suburban location most of the film takes place in reminds me of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) with a young Jamie Leigh Curtis running down the middle of the street. The accompanying music is also reminiscent of those ‘70s and ‘80s horror films. Composer Rich Vreeland (a.k.a. Disasterpeace) is spot on; he employs synthesizers and keyboards to evoke tension and dread. The music is a perfect companion to the imminent anxiety on screen. It is one of the best horror scores I have ever heard.

The camera work is just as effective as the music. The long takes evoke a crushing sense of unease and disquiet. Standard short bits and quick editing with jump cuts lasting no more than a second or two diffuse suspense and increase confusion. They give the audience action at the expense of emotion. Mitchell’s long takes are unusual in the horror genre and heighten the fear. Were waiting for something to happen. We know something is going to happen. We stare right along with Jay expecting it at any moment. This is true movie theater fear.

In those early teenage horror films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street, the rule was if the teenagers had sex, they were the next to die. It was immediate punishment for a quick carnal sin. It Follows turns the teenage sex rule on its head. If you have sex, you are marked for death; however, you can get rid of it only by having sex. Mitchell takes an ironclad horror film norm and flips it upside down. This is why It Follows is both indebted to its predecessors for their foundation and guidance, but is also a fresh and creative new take in an established genre. It Follows is going to be a slow burn, word of mouth film. It will steadily build a fan base and occupy midnight screening slots for years to come.